Fifteen days moving through Italy's big-name cities and into the Swiss Alps, with trains doing the heavy lifting between stops. You get a proper mix of art, history, food and landscape rather than one theme stretched thin.

The Italian leg covers Venice, Tuscany, Rome and Milan, with time built in for Tuscan food and wine and a stop in Lake Como before crossing into Switzerland. There you swap cities for mountains, taking in Interlaken, Grindelwald and the Staubbach Falls.

It's an easy-paced, partially guided trip, so you get support at the key sights but some room to explore towns like Lucerne, Lugano and Zurich on your own terms.

What you'll do

• Visit the Doge's Palace and St Mark's Basilica in Venice
• Taste Tuscan food and wine around Florence and the countryside
• Walk the hilltop towns of Siena and San Gimignano
• See the Colosseum and Vatican City in Rome
• Admire Lake Como from Bellagio
• Take in the Staubbach Falls and Alpine scenery around Interlaken and Grindelwald